A door panel assembly of an automotive vehicle is typically secured to a door belt seal by clips. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. to Billin et al. 5,111,619 discloses an assembly for mounting a door trim panel having a mounting surface to a vehicle body door. The door trim panel has a plurality of appendages which project downward from the door trim panel and a plurality of fingers depending downward in proximity to an upper edge of the door trim panel. The door has a plurality of openings for receiving the appendages of the door trim panel adapted for securing the door trim panel to the door. The clips secured to the vehicle body door have a ramp surface for engagement by the finger of the door trim panel and adapt to slide the trim panel vertically relative to the door trim panel as the door trim panel is moved towards the body door. An engagement surface of the clip depends downward from an upper edge of the ramp surface for engaging the finger securing the trim panel to the body door.
It is desirable to incorporate stiffening members within an automotive door. For example, the U.S. Pat. No. to Mass 5,544,448 discloses a structural door belt seal for an automotive vehicle which includes an elastomeric seal member mounted on a belt edge portion of the door and a stiffening member carried within the elastomeric seal member, and further including a reinforcing member extending outwardly from the elastomeric seal member with the stiffening member.
Other U.S. patents disclose the use of clips to secure a molding of an automobile door to the lower edge of an outer panel window as shown in the U.S. Pat. No. to Fukuhara 4,696,128; the U.S. Pat. No. to Koike 4,089,134; and the U.S. Pat. No. to Yasukawa 5,085,005.
Some of the sealing strips have integrally formed fastening mechanisms to simplify fabrication and assembly steps. Examples are disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Dupuy 5,433,038 and 5,519,968.
Some sealing strips include metallic layers such as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. to Saint-Louis Augustin et al. 5,005,317; Larsen 5,207,027 and Belser et al. 5,493,815.
As described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,225,141, 5,069,858, and 5,447,762, it is known in the plastic molding art to use pressurized fluid in conjunction with the plastic molding of articles. The pressurized fluid is typically nitrogen gas which is introduced into the mold cavity at or near the completion of the plastic injection. The pressurized fluid serves several purposes. First, it allows the article so formed to have hollow interior portions which correspond to weight and material savings. Second, the pressurized fluid within the mold cavity applies outward pressure to force the plastic against the mold surfaces while the article solidifies. Third, the cycle time is reduced as the gas migrates through the most fluent inner volume of the plastic and replaces the plastic in these areas which would otherwise require an extended cooling cycle. Fourth, the gas pressure pushes the plastic against the mold surfaces, thereby obtaining the maximum coolant effect from the mold.
Gas-assisted injection molding has been used to produce a wide variety of automotive parts as shown in European Patent Specification 472,788 and as shown in the above-noted application entitled "Hollow Plastic Article Formed By A Gas-Assisted Injection Molding System."